The Kyodo news agency reported that Iraq, for the first...

The Kyodo news agency reported that Iraq, for the first time in over a decade, said in a news report it was willing to have a dialogue with the U.N. Human Rights Commission on claims that the Baghdad government was violating the human rights of its population.
The official Iraqi News Agency (INA) quoted an unnamed Iraq Foreign Ministry spokesman as saying Iraq "would like to assert that it is endeavoring to deepen the principles of human rights on all levels regardless of the difficult economic and political situation it is facing," according to Kyodo.
"Iraq is ready for a constructive dialogue (with the commission) and hopes that the commission pays more attention to the violations targeting the Iraqi people because of the ongoing sanctions and the Anglo-American air raids," the agency reported the spokesman as saying.
The comments were made in regard to the commission's recent issuance of a report in which Iraq was accused of "grave violations of human rights." The report cited the alleged arbitrary execution of five officers of the elite Republican Guards recently as an example of such violations.